Xmen: The Pummeller
by clara riddle
Summary: A new student at the Institute and a new challenge for all
1. Chapter 1

X-men: The Pummeller

Jean-Gray was checking out the bar where Wolverine and Rogue had come from for the people he had said he thought might be one of them. They were one of the cage wrestlers and had almost beaten Wolverine (well _he_ said they were an easy match, but Jean could tell he was bending the truth a little).

She went up to the barman and asked if there was a Pummeller there. He pointed to the cage that took up most of the centre of the room. There was a girl and a man fighting in the cage. The girl had dark hair tied up in a ponytail on the top of her head to keep it out of the way. She wore combat trousers and a sleeveless t-shirt. She was standing in a ready position waiting for the man to get up. Her face was impassionate and impatient as she looked down upon her opponent. Her opponent had a shaved head and no shirt on. He wore plain jeans and had no top on.

He lifted himself up off the ground. Jean could see a fist mark coming up on his stomach. The girl stood in the corner smiling slightly as she waited for him to get over his dizziness. Jean didn't think that this man could possibly be a mutant and that Wolverine must have been mistaken. She was about to leave when he charged forward at the girl. She dodged his blow as quick as lightning. As he rammed his fist into the cage wire she spun round and lifted her leg up bringing it down with a sickening crunch on the man's back.

The referee counted, "One, two, three. He's out! The winner is Pummeller!" So _she_ was Pummeller. Jean agreed with Wolverine. She _was_ a mutant. Jean started to make her way across to Pummeller but a crowd had formed around the bar and she could not get through. Excusing herself to the Betters trying to wangle some money out of the barman she pushed through the crowd. But when she finally got to the cage Pummeller was nowhere to be seen!

"Are you going to buy a drink or not?" the barman asked Jean impatiently. She had been waiting at the bar for a while waiting for Pummeller. Whilst she was waiting she had been pondering about the girl's name 'Pummeller' it seemed a rather odd name. She was pretty sure it wasn't the girl's real name. 

There were some steps from the corner and a pair of combat trousers appeared coming down the stairs. They were closely followed by the belly button of a teenage girl wearing a black top, with netting over the sleeves, that said 'You're F Before You Start'. Then last of all came he head. Her soft, shiny, styled hair framing her turquoise eyes. She promptly walked up to the counter slapped a slip of paper on the bar-top and said, "Cough it up Danny, I'm outta here." Danny pulled up a six-pack. Then he opened his cash register and pulled out two crisp twenty-dollar bills. Pummeller contemplated them for a moment then slapped her hand on the table, "Damn it Danny, I'm not joking."

"Are you sure?" he asked carefully, "Yes, I'm sure. Now hand it over." He opened the cash register again and this time pulled out six fifty-dollar bills. Pummeller counted them and checked they were real. She promptly stuffed them carelessly into her pocket, picked up the six-pack and made her way out of there.

She had gone a couple of paces when she noticed that the strange woman from the counter was following her. Without stopping or looking back she said, "What d'ya want, lady?" Jean was taken by surprise by this abrupt question but she didn't let it phase her, "I want to talk to you," she said carefully. Pummeller stopped and turned around, her feet making circles in the snow. "Why?"

"I know what you are, who you are." Said Jean simply. Pummeller said, "No ya don't." she turned back around and started walking again. This wasn't going to plan; Jean was supposed to retrieve the girl and bring her back to the Institution. 'Listen to me' said a voice in Pummeller's head. She turned and saw the woman looking at her. Even though they were standing in the freezing cold, snow falling on them Pummeller put the six-pack on the ground, put her hands on her hips and asked, "Who are ya?"


	2. Chapter 2

'I wonder what she's thinking' thought Jean as she walked Pummeller the jet. They walked slowly and silently, ploughing through the snow, 'Isn't she cold?' Pummeller was only wearing a closely fitted top and she had nothing around her mid-drift. She hadn't bothered to put on a coat when she had come outside. It wasn't like she needed one, she never did.

"This is the jet." Jean announced. They climbed inside. Pummeller took a seat at the very back, as far away as possible from the strange woman called Jean-Gray. If she had been paying closer attention she would have been awed at the magnificent ship. She was a wonderful craft. But, as it was, she was dwelling on other things. Things that went way back, deeper than anyone could ever imagine.

It was sunny. She could remember how the light fell through the patio windows making little patterns on the linoleum floor. The face, bright and happy. A skipping child, laughing. She was up in her room; there was paper on the desk. The walls were yellow, like the sun's rays. But the image was blurred, just a memory. Then the scream. Short, piercing, suddenly cut off. Rushing down, unseeing eyes imagining. A body. Limp, lifeless. A splash, a small, wet body on the ground. The phone in a shaky hand. Fingers pressing numbers, nine, one, one. Flashing lights, noisy sirens. A chair, someone is waiting for an answer. A pale white coat, a shake of the head. Tears fall slowly to the ground. A hand on the windowpane. Then shards of glass standing in mid air. They drop to the ground. A figure running, running away from everything. More tears fall, more screams, but now they are angry. The last car journey, then a children's home. Someone sitting at a window watching a car drive away. Watching a person drive out of her life. A pendant, spinning round and round, a picture of a small girl inside, smiling.

Pummeller closed her hand around a pendant that hung around her neck. She looked out of the window as the world whisked by. That was the day she found out what she was, that was the day she forgot who she was. All that was left was a memory.

Jean brought the jet down to land on a basketball court, but the court opened up and the jet landed safely inside the confines of an underground level. Jean told Pummeller to come along. They walked along many white sparkling corridors and into a strangely carpeted lift. When the doors opened Pummeller saw that she was now in what Jean had said was the 'Institute'. At first, due to the white walls, she thought she landed in some weird mental institute but now she saw that Jean was telling the truth.

"So, where's this X guy ya'll keep talkin' 'bout?" Pummeller asked, looking around. "If you mean Professor Xavier," said Jean through gritted teeth, "that's his office over there." She pointed to a thick oak door at the end of the corridor in front of them. Then, as if by magic the door opened. A man at a desk sat facing them. He beckoned them forwards with a finger. When they got in the room the doors shut by themselves again. As Pummeller sat down opposite him she noticed there were other people in the room. A woman with white hair, though with quite young looks, a man wearing sunglasses even though it was not sunny and a shadowy figure standing in a corner of the room. "Professor, I brought the...girl," said Jean.

"Well done Jean." He said. Though he was old and balding he had a strong voice. Not at all like the usual rambling old fogies. "Child, I believe they call you Pummeller." He said to Pummeller.

"Yap 's'right." He surveyed her for a moment then said, "What is your real name, dear?" she had to think for a moment before answering, "I dunno, guess I forgot." There was a chain reaction around the room. White hair blinked, sunglasses coughed, Jean raised an eyebrow and shadow guy shifted slightly. Professor, however, did not make any reaction, he merely said, "Do you mind if I look into your mind to see if I can find it?" now it was Pummeller's turn to blink. "I 'spose yaw c'n try." She said. It would be interesting to see if these weirdoes actually were telling the truth. He leaned over the desk and put his fingertips against her temples. She flinched but stayed where she was. She could feel him inside her head, searching. He was skimming the surface then he slowed as he found what he was looking for. He whispered softly "Is your name Annabelle?"

There was an explosion inside her head as if someone had just whacked her around the head expecting nothing to be there. Professor Xavier was thrown from his chair and flung onto the ground. The others rushed around him and Pummeller took one look at what she had done and ran.


	3. Chapter 3

Pummeller streaked through the trees as fast as her feet could carry her. What had she done? She hadn't meant to hurt him, it just happened.

That was the problem with Pummeller; things just happened. Like, at her tenth birthday party she had wanted a chocolate cake with blue icing but the children's home hadn't had enough money. The plain sponge cake hade lifted up into the air and dropped on the floor by itself. Every one said it had slipped off the table but Pummeller knew that they only said that because they didn't understand what had really happened.

She stopped running when she found herself at the edge of a pond in the surrounding woods. She sat down calmly, leaning with her back against a tree. She could feel him searching for her but she was good at hiding physically and mentally. They were going to think she was nuts now. She couldn't go back there. At least not yet.

"The Prof's fine, in case you wanted to know." Pummeller whipped around. It was the shadow guy. He looked familiar, yes. He was that guy who beat her! What was his name? Wolf...It was an animal...Wolver...Wolverine!

"Why're yaw here?" she asked. "Those wackos say they're some dumb 'institute' t'ya too? Or yaw come t' finish that fight?"

"They're not wackos and I did finish that fight." He said. "Why did you run away?" he asked her

"Din't yaw see what I did? Y'all was in the room wasn't yaw?" She replied

"I saw the Prof trying to help you and you ran away 'cause you made a mistake. They're only there to help. Do you know why that happened anyway? I was just wondering." He added hastily so she wouldn't blow her top at him.

"He said...It don't matter, why d'ya wanna know?" she said accusingly.

"What did he say?" Wolverine asked, and then when she didn't answer, "You have to realise what is stopping you from communicating or else no one can help you."

"...Annabelle. It was...my sister's name." She whispered.

"There's a story behind this isn't there?" she nodded, "Tell me,"


	4. Chapter 4

"Eleven years ago m' sister Annabelle were born. I were so pleased t' have a new baby sister t' look after and play with. But...my mum contracted a disease and shortly afterwards died. I din't at first understand where she'd went; I were only five. Eventually, I realised that she weren't coming back. So, I looked after m' sister even more 'cause she was all I had left o' my mum. We grew up together as very close sisters.

"One day, during the summer holidays, my step dad went out and I were left in charge. I'd looked after m' sister by meself lots of times and this were no different from any other. I were up in my room doing some homework, I think, when I heard a scream. I looked out o' m' window; she'd been playing outside. I saw...I saw...She'd fallen in the swimming pool.

"I ran downstairs 'cause I knew she couldn't swim too well. I swung open the French doors. She was just a body, floating in the water. I jumped into' swimming pool and brought her out. I laid her down on the patio. She weren't breathing. I put her in the recovery position. I checked for her pulse. It was faint but it was there.

"I ran into' kitchen to get the cordless phone never taking m' eyes of her. I ran back t' her and dialled 911 and asked for an ambulance. The man on t'other end of the phone asked me if I'd put her in the recovery position. I told him I had. He asked me if she were breathing. I told him she weren't. Then he started t' ask me these silly questions. Is your mummy or daddy at home? What's your name little girl? How old are you? I told him that I was not a little girl; I was eleven. I asked him when the ambulance was gonna get here several times but all he said were soon. He told me t' wait out front so the ambulance could tell where I were.

"Then there were flashing lights, people in yellow shiny coats, and lots o' funny wires. A lady took me t' one side and asked me the same questions as the man on telephone had. I asked if m' sister were okay but all she said were I dunno. I rode in the back o' the ambulance with m' sister, watching all the plastic tubes running around everywhere. When we got t' hospital they took her into a room that I weren't allowed in. I waited outside on a green chair for some one to tell me everything was okay.

"That never happened.

"When they told me I was distraught. I yelled at 'em that they was lying. Inside I knew they wasn't. I leaned m' hand against a window while I took in what had happened. M' hand went through the window shattering the glass. The shattered glass stood in mid-air outside the window. Then when I leapt back in fright it fell t' the ground. That was the day I first realised I was different.

"M' step dad didn't take the news well. He told me I were scum and had planned it all along t' get to 'im. He blamed me completely for it, and so did I. We had a lot o' fights shouting at each other. It'd torn us so far apart that we didn't go a day without a shouting match.

"One got too far though. I...I hit him. He went flying 'cross the room and made a huge crack in the wall. He said that were it. He weren't going to put up with it anymore. He said I were going t' go into a child's home. He made me pack the very next day. He drove me to the home 'imself. The care worker greeted me nicely and took me to m' room. It had a window seat that I sat in. Whilst he drove away I were looking at a picture of my sister in a pendant that m' mother gave me.

"I went t' high school that week; it were the end o' the summer holidays. There was new first impressions to be given t' new teachers an' students. On m' first day I wore a long sleeved black top that said 'mediocre' in gothic lettering, with metal clips on the shoulders an' red and black striped tights with a black pleated mini skirt.

"I got into loads o' trouble in school. I din't see the point o' doing any homework since I din't really have a home any more. And now that I had the power to hurt any one I wanted, I did. If some one pissed me of I'd sock them one; I got pissed off a lot. So, one day I really couldn't be bothered to do what anyone wanted anymore, so I didn't. I packed a couple o' essentials and headed out. I came to th' bar with the wrestling cage and stayed there, earning m' keep by winning bets every night. Then Jean came along one day and I ended up here. Yaw know the rest."

Wolverine turned to her and said, "Shall we go and tell the Prof you're here?"

"No need," she replied "he already knows." So they walked up to the institute.


End file.
